Hundreds of Nuns Trained in Kung Fu are Biking the Himalayas for the Best Reason

Five hundred Buddhist nuns from the Drukpa lineage, clad in black sweatpants, red jackets, and white helmets, are cycling through the Himalayas' narrow mountain passes from Nepal to India. The distance totaled 4,000 km, starting from Nepal's Kathmandu to the northern city of Leh in India.

Their reasoning was not for financial gain or global recognition, but to raise awareness on human trafficking in the remote region.

22-year-old nun Jigme Konchok Lhamo stated:

"When we were doing relief work in Nepal after the earthquakes last year, we heard how girls from poor families were being sold because their parents could not afford to keep them anymore. We wanted to do something to change this attitude that girls are less than boys and that it's okay to sell them. Women have power and strength like men."

Kung Fu Nuns

From honor killings in Pakistan to feticide in India and child marriage in Nepal, women face a barrage of threats, although growing awareness, better laws and economic empowerment are bringing a slow change in attitudes.

This was the fourth journey they have made involving meeting locals, government officials, and religious leaders to spread messages of gender equality and respect. They also deliver food to help the poor, help villagers get medical care, and are dubbed "Kung Fu nuns" due to their training in martial arts.

"People think that because we are nuns, we are supposed to stay in the temples and pray all the time. But praying is not enough. His Holiness teaches us that we have to go out and act on the words that we pray. After all, actions speak louder than words."

The Drukpa nuns said the earthquakes were a turning point in their understanding of human trafficking and that they felt a need to do more than travel to diaster-hit mountain villages.